The present invention relates to suits for beekeepers and, more particularly, to beekeepers suit which is designed to be used to protect beekeeper's body from bee stings.
In the art of beekeeping it is important to inspect the bee hives or harvest honey which exposes the beekeeper to close contact with hundreds of bees which, when feel threatened, may sting the beekeeper. To protect the body of the beekeeper, a plurality of various garments have been designed which generally protect the exposed arms, torso, legs of the beekeeper by covering them with a body suit. However, most of the body suits known heretofore have been constructed of tightly woven material, so as to prevent the bee stings from penetrating through the fabric and reaching the body of the user. The disadvantages of such type of suit are easily appreciated when considering that a beekeeper often has to work in a hot climate when the outside temperature is uncomfortably hot and the body suit constructed of the tightly woven material doesn't allow air to freely circulate to the skin of the user, which leads to overheating of the body and setting of early fatigue. Additionally, the physical activity causes the body to warm up, and since there is no air circulation, the body heat is not allowed to escape.
Therefore there is a constant need in the art for a beekeeper's suit which has the ability to protect the wearer from bee stings while working with the bee hives, yet at the same time provide for ventilation through the suit so that the beekeeper could be kept dry and comfortable during his work.
Various solutions have been offered to solve these problems, one of the known solutions being a beekeeper's suit described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,451 issued on Jan. 8, 1974 (Malin). Malin teaches provision of a retaining layer (netting) to which tubes or plastic rings are fixedly secured. However, the suit of Malin is not flexible enough to permit unencumbered movements to the wearer. Additionally, the spaces between tubes or rings have a very thin netting which, when the garment is bent during regular use, will not protect the wearer from insect bites. Further, sagging of netting between the tubes will inevitably expose the user to insect bites.
Another insect protection garment design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,594 issued on Jan. 5, 1988 (Shannon). This patent discloses a garment made of two layers of fabric which are connected at the seams. The outer layer is a fine mesh netting, while the inner layer is a coarse mesh netting with large openings. The yarns utilized for manufacture of the inner layer are 2/16 of an inch to 7/16 of an inch thick. Shannon teaches that the thickness of the inner layer provides a spacer layer to space the skin of the wearer from the outer layer. However, the thick yarns which closely resemble ropes in thickness might feel rather uncomfortable to a user, especially when bending or flexing arms, and therefore may encumber movements of the beekeeper.
The present invention contemplates elimination of the drawbacks associated with the known solutions by providing a lightweight ventilated beekeeper's suit for protection against insect bites.